My name is Selina Andrea, but you can call me Sally. 18. Loves reading books and has a weird liking to birds that can't fly. Has a sweet tooth, a music-lover, an anime fanatic, and a coffee lover.
In short, it states that in order for one to attain a state of happiness, another must become unhappy. Here’s a few common examples:
- Your favorite basketball team won in the championship. This made you happy, but a fan of the opposing basketball team is of course sad.
- Your co-worker got a promotion. He’s happy, and you tell him that you are happy for him, but deep inside there’s a part of you that’s a little upset about it. That little part of you is saying that you’ll be happier if it’s you who got promoted and not him.
- When you stole money and bought whatever you want with it, your level of happiness will go up. Needless to say, the person whom you stole from will have his level of happiness going down.
You know, I can’t wrap my head around the idea that someone else needs to be distressed when you’re happy. I understand the concept of balance, but seriously, even in happiness? :( How about the parents’ joy when a new babe is born? Unless there’s a soap opera-ish twist in there, I guess it’s all just happiness. Or how about when you discover that the person you love returns your affection? Or when your sick mother wakes up from a month-long coma? Or that feeling you get when you just freaking buy the latest issue of your favorite comic book? I don’t know. What do you think?
When parents are rejoicing that their baby was just born, other parents are grieving because they just miscarried. When you discover the person you love returns your affection, somebody else finds out the person they love doesn’t love them back. When your mother wakes up from a coma, someone else’s mother slips into one. And when you’re happy after buying that comic book, some person in a third world country is depressed because they can’t even afford to feed their children.
There are so many people in the world. It makes sense that, even if by chance, when something makes a person happy, something makes another person sad.
It’s the TRANSFER OF HAPPINESS we’re talking about, right? I think it should be directly connected, as shown in the first three examples. Or am I missing something? Just because a couple rejoices because their baby is born, it doesn’t mean that it will result to another couple’s baby dying or a mommy having a miscarriage. No connection at all, no transfer/ conservation of happiness. Same with the comic book situation and the 3rdworld person—I think that kind of situation would fit with the “Law of Conservation of Wealth” better. If someone’s mother wake up from a coma, would it directly result to someone else’s mother slipping into one? I can accept the one about the return-your-affection thingy, but that is if there’s one unrequited third party. :)
